Kawai K5000

The K5000 was Kawai's top of the line music workstation digital
synthesizer when it was released back in 1996. It's a bold and elegantly
designed synth with a large LCD display, realtime controls and
incredible sounds! The look and functionality is rivals the competition
from the time...the Korg Trinity and
Kurzweil K2500.

Programming sounds with the K5000 can be a breeze (once you learn how)
although it has over 1,000 parameters per patch! That's plenty to play
with. It combines additive synthesis and PCM sampled waveforms for you
to layer and combine to design a whole range of sounds. Plenty of LFO
modulation, filters and envelope controls allow you to shape and morph
your sounds further. On-board multi-effects add the final touch of life
to your sounds.

Once you've created some sounds, there's the on-board sequencer (K5000W
only) for creating songs or loading Standard Midi File sequences (via
disk-drive). It has a 40,000 note capacity and 40 tracks. Real-time
record and step-edit modes are available and the sequencer is pretty
straight forward.

The K5000S (pictured above) adds 12 dedicated knobs for hands-on control
of filter, LFO and envelope parameters. There are 4 user-definable knobs
and 2 assignable switches. The K5000S also has a 40-pattern arpeggiator
on-board with 8 user-definable patterns too! K5000's have been used by
Kraftwerk.

In 1997 a rack-module version of the K5000 was released. The rack
version shipped with Kawai's more stable OS 3.0 software. The latest is
4.03 and is free to upgrade via download from Kawai. The rack offers all the same
power and flexibility as its keyboard counterparts. To get a more
hands-on-knobs control of the K5000 (like the K5000S) there is a Knobs
Macro box. But other controllers such as Encore Knobby or Keyfax Phatboy
can also do the trick.

The link above will take you to an eBay search for this synth to see active listings with more images, specs and information. If you don't find it there, try looking in our forum marketplace. Our marketplace gets thousands of visits every week so make sure to check back often if you want to buy or sell a synth.